Ship&#39;s steering system.



J, R. AlIDREWSlv SHIPS STEERING' SYSTM. APrLmATlon FILED nm zo, 1910.

Patentd Apr; 2.21, 1914 8 SHEETS-SHEET l.

Acca R. Aurmawa.

A TTU/@NEX '.T. R. ANDREWS.

SHIPS STEERING SYSTEM. APPLICATION FILED DBG. zo, 1910.

Patented Apr. 21, 1911 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

.w @AX Eil /Nl/ENTOP Aces R. Au'oaaws sults from the electric motor.

yhave inventecllcertainfnew and useful--Ifm are overcome. In it I have made possible UNITED STATES PATENT oFrioE.

JACOB R. ANDREWS, or BATH, MAINE.

SHIPSv STEERING- SYSTEM. i

essere;

y Specification of Letters Patent. n Patented Apr. 21, 1914:. Application filed December 26, 1910. Serial No. 598,367. i

To all 'whom it may concern f Be'itknown that I, JACOB R. ANDREWS, a citizen of .the United States, residing at Bath,I county of Sagudahoc, State of Maine,

provements in Ships- Steering Systems, of which the following is a specication.

This inventio relates to power steering systems for lvessels and particularly to the steering of a vessel from'a constantly moving, one direction source of power.

In the handling of the helm of any ship bypower, the great diiiiculty always lies in securing the rapid'. reversals necessary to prompt and accurate lacing of the course. The sudden reversal of any sourceof power available for'sucl'r use involves conditions dangerous to the source of power and ele-4 ments of uncertainty which in critical m0- ments might produce 'disastrous results.

The use of'electricity for' the purposes of ship steering has been much desired and frequently attempted, but the difficulties above suggested, especially'that of reversal, have made it impossible to secure satisfactory re It is the object -of the present invention to provide a system in-which these difficulties the avoidance of reversal in the main motor so that a-constantly running electric or other motor may be employed without reversal.

The nature and operation of my' system will loe more fully described in the specifica'- tion which follows and in it I have described, as illustrative of my invention, a system in which a constantly ruiming elec'- tric motor is employed to operate a steering gear through a variable stroke reversible pump which feeds a reversible fluidmotor to secure operation at any speed and in either direction.

rThe system I have shown, in as much detail as seems necessary for the understand ing of those skilled in the art, by drawings which form apart of the specification, like reference numerals being employed through is keyed tol the rudder post 11.

out to indicate corresponding parts. I In the drawings: Figure vis a plan view of a system used with a quadrant steeringv gear, Fig.- 2 is a side view ofthe same, Fig. 3

is avariable speed, reversible. motor, Fig. 4 .is a variable speed, reversible pump, Fig. 5 is a plan view corresponding to Fig. 1 but showing adaptation to screw steering gear, and, Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the system as applied in Fig. 5. Figs. 7 and7a are transverse andv longitudinal sectional views of the pump.

In practising my invention as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 I provide a motor 1 which is directly connected to a pump 2. This pump is connected by a pipe 3 to a iuid motor 4.- which has a shaft 6, on which is worm 5. The worm 5 meshes with a gear 7 on a shaft 8, upon upper end of which is vmounted a pinion 9, meshing with a segment 10 which Above the pinion 9 and on the shaft 8 is a. bevel gear 12,

which meshes with another bevel gear 13 on a cross shaft 14, which through gears 15 and 16, operates the shaft 17. The shaft 17 is provided with a pinion 18 which engages a toothed rod '19 connected to the lever 20, which constitutes a follow-up gear for automatically cutting ofi' the pump 2 after it has actuated the steeringgea-r. The toothed bar '10 slides through suitable `bearings on each side of the pinion 1.8 as indicated at 13a. At the opposite end the lever 2O is connected to a rod 2l which may be connected to suitable control at any part of the ves-l from the bridge or any other part of the vessel.

The pump 2 may be any suitable variable speed, reversible pump, but I have found that a variable stroke pump is particularly well adapted for the operation of the system. Such a pump I have indicated in Fig. 4. The casing of the pump I have indicated as 2, and within this casing .is suitably journaled a shaft 201, upon which is preferably mounted the motor 1, so as to secure a direct drive. Upon the shaft is spliued a cylinder casing 202, bored with a plurality of cylin ders 203, and rotatably mounted within the .casing 2 with a l suitable ball race 203. Loosely encircling shaft 201 is a head 204,

This may be an ordinary wheel connection or may be a telemotor connection which is provided with a plurality of sockets within which are. seated the rounded ends 200 of piston rods 20T, which at their opposite ends are coupled by a similar ball and socket; joint, to the pistons 20S. The head 20-lis journaled in the casing so as to be swung, and on the end of the bearing is mounted the lever 20 for controlliiig the saine. as above explained.

The cylinders 203 are connected by ports 214 to chambers 205 and '200. These chambers 205 and 206 are separated by a partition which does not show in Fig. 4, but which divides this end of the casing near the vertical, so as to separate the intake and ,delivery- Sides of the pump. This pump is connected by the pipe circuit 3 to a motor 4 which is preferably of a structure similar to the pump itself.

Referring to Fig. 3 which shows a corresponding section of the motor, the casing 4 has journaled within it theshaft 6, which has on its end the worm 5 for driving the steering gear. Upon this shaft is keyed a motor head 402, which is mounted in a race 410. The head is bored with a plurality of cylinders 403 connected by ports 414 to chambers 405 and 406, vertically divided by a partition which is not shown but corre- .spendingto' that of the pump. Within the casing is fixed a head 404, socketed to receive the rounded ends 406 of piston rods 407, which at their opposite ends are 'correspondingly socketed in pistons 408, which work within. the cylinders 403.'

Referring back to Fig. l, it will be Seen that the pump 2 may be operated in either direction and with a variable stroke, by simply rocking the head 204 within the casing, so that it will stand at any angle out of the vertical in every phase; that is to say, in-

the position shown in Fig. 4 it will pump with a maximum stroke ahead, while if swung to the opposite phase, it would supply liquid to the motor 4 with a. maximum stroke in reverse, thus reversing the motor 4. When thehead 204 is vertical, the pump is idle, as the rotation of the head will, effect no stroke delivery. Q

Referring to Fig. 3, it Willbe seen that the liquid supplied -by the pump will operate the piston408 -in either direction, according to the phase of the pump and according to ywhether the chamber 405 or 406 is used as an entry port or exhaust port.

The strogke of the motor is varied according to the quantity of `liquid delivered at each stroke of the pump, and the shaft 6 is given a corresponding rotation speed which turns the'worm 5 and operates' the segment 10 to secure' the desired movement of the rudder post 11. In this way it will be seen that the rudder may be turned at any speed and in either direction withl the utmost accuraey and entirely regardless of the speed or direction of the motor l, which may be run constantly in one direction.

My system may obviously be applied to other steering gear than the quadrant gear shown in Figs. l and 2; for example, it might be applied to the screw gear shown in Fig. 5. ln Figs. 5 and 6 the motor l drives 4the pump. 2, which operates the fluid motor 4, to turn a pinion 70, which operates a gear 7l rotating the screw shaftji. lhis operates sliding members 75 and 70 which are connected by links 77 and 78 to the crosshead 79 set on the rudder post 1l.

This illustrates Athe variety of adaptation possible with my system. The operation of the system shown in Figs. 5 and 6 would be the same as that explained in connection with Figs. l and 2,'the only difference being in the operation of the steering gear which is a screw gear instead of a segment gear.

It will therefore be evident that my in vention may be applied to any type of steer- -ing gear :by providing a suitable connection.

Various ty'pes of reversible and variable speed pumps may be employedand also various types of reversible and variable speed fluid motors may be used, to secure the transmission of power from a constantly moving electric or other motor to the steering gear. All these and other modifications I hold to be within the spirit of my invention if within the limits of the appended claims.

Reverting to the operation of the pump and motor this may be stated briefly as follows Assuming that in Fig. 4 which shows sectional view of the pump, the direction of the Shaft is over at the top toward the observer and the tilting head 204 is in vertical position, the cylinder casing 202 which is keyed to the shaft, and the tilting head 204, together with the connecting rods, pistons, ctc., rotate with the shaft, but the pistons do not reciprocate. If now the tilting head is moved from the vertical position as shown in Fig. 4, all the pistons on the farther side of the pump will draw oil out and pistons on the' near side of pump will force oil through chambers 205 and 206, which chambers are connected by pipes to corresponding chambers of the motor, Fig. 3. When the piston is at the top or bottom of its revolution, there is no movement of the piston for an instant, as it is then covered by the partition between the chambers. As the oil which is forced by the pistons on the near side of the pump, Fig. 4, must flow into the cylinders of the farther side of the liuid motor, Fig. 3, the pistons on that side of the motor, Fig. 3, must be withdrawn, consequently the tilting head 204 and'cylinder head 402, would be driven in the direction so as to rotate the shaft over toward the observer. Assuming now that the shaft in pump, Fig. 4, rotates in the saine direction but that the tilting head 204: is moved from a vertical position in the opposite' direction, direction of the flow of oil would be such that oil would be forced by the pistons on the farther side of the pump and Withdrawn by the pistons on the near side of the pump, which would result lin the shaft,` Fig. 3, rotating in the opposite direction. t

What I therefore claim and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is:

Y In combination a motor adapted to be run constantly in one direction, a reversible and .Variable speed iuidvdelivery pum 'means for eonstantlyjdriving said pump rom said motor, a steering post,.a'rotary Huid pressure motor connected to receive motive Huid from said pump, and gearing betweenthe shaft of said rotary motor and the steering post.

In testlmdny whereof, I aiiiX my signature in presenceoftWo Witnesses.

l JACOB R. ANDREWS."

Witnesses: t

Y G. W. M nnnru., 

